1.4 - Realist Theories of Crime

• What is Wilson's broken windows theory?


  • the idea that if there is one broken window left unreplaced, there will be many
  • Broken window - a physical symbol that residents of a particular neighbourhood, do not care about their environment and low-level deviancy is tolerated
  • their response was a zero tolerance policy where the criminal justice system took low level crime seriously to ensure a clear collective conscience and boundary maintenance
• Evaluation of broken windows theory -


  • Neglects underlying social and economic factors such as unemployment, poverty and a lack of education
• What are the causes of crime according to right realists?


  1. Biological Explanations
  2. Cultural Explanations
  3. Opportunity + Choice
• What is the biological explanation of crime?


  • right realists
  • Wilson + Hernstein - biological differences between individuals make some people innately more predisposed to commit crimes than others
  • EXAMPLE - personality traits such as aggressiveness, extraversion and low intelligence
• Evaluation of biological explanation -


  • critics argue they fail to ignore the importance of social factors such as a capitalist society and economic exclusion
• What is the cultural explanation of crime?

  • socialisation and the underclass (Murray)
  • Murray believes births outside the family lead to lone parent families, where mothers fail to socialise their children adequately. The absence of a male role model is seen as particulary damaging for boys
  • Welfare benefits - the availability of benefits has led to dependency on a 'nanny state' which encourages dependency on crime
  • Fathers - men who do not support their families, find other ways to prove they are men, which turns to destructive forces
• Evaluation of cultural explanations -

  1. Cashmore sees this as a direct attack to lone parent families as the relationships between parents and crime are dependent on the quality of parenting
  2. Roberts is critical as not all lone parent families are negative just negatively labelled
• How does opportunity and choice explain crime?


  • RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY - Clarke argues that people choose to be deviant and crime is not universal, but is related to the ease, opportunity and absence of risk in each situation. If rewards outweigh costs
  • EASE, OPPORTUNITY AND RISK OF DETECTION - Wilson focuses on street crime which is as a result of rational calculation and if CCTV is present
  • REASONING CRIMINAL - Felson argues for a crime to occur, there must be a motivated offender, suitable target and absence of a 'capable guardian'. Believes informal guardians (neighbours) more effective
• Evaluation of opportunity and choice -

  1. Cohen argues that crime is a result of low status in society, not financial gain
  2. Feminists argue they fail to examine personal crimes such as rape and assault
  3. Been criticised for not acknowledging WHY crime is a rational choice for some people and not others
• What is the left realist's theory of crime?


  • argue that earlier explanations of crime fail to see the whole picture. They look at the offenders, but ignore victims or focus mostly on the criminal justice system
  • Jock Young - the focus on the crimes of the powerful leads to neglect of the w/c criminals and victims
• What is Lea and Young's victims?the crime survey shows that the average chance of being a victim of crime is small

  • LR highlight the plight of victims as it is disadvantaged groups living in inner-city areas who are more at risk of being harmed by street crime than other groups.
  • Lea + Young - argue that whilst stats suggest w/c are criminals, they are most likely to be the victims. Crime is INTRA-RELATED (w/c commit crimes against w/c)
  • Aims to show the low income conditions of the w/c and experience of crime is a combination of both utilitarian and non crimes/
• What are the causes of crime according to left realists?

  1. Relative Deprivation
  2. Marginalisation
  3. Subcultures
• How does relative deprivation cause crime?


  • the subjective feeling you are deprived in comparison to other social groups or expectations are not met.
  • Lea, Young - delinquent youth feel frustrated because of the disparity between the higher expectations of what they can actually obtain, given the alternatives to unemployment are low income training schemes
  • Argue that media create unrealistic expectations of life and create a culture of resentment, where the poor feel they are owed goods
  • thus, rising crime is the result of rising expectations for standards of living and lack of opportunities
• How does marginalisation cause crime?


  • marginal groups find themselves 'on the edge' of society with little acceptance from other people and a struggle to achieve society's goals. Marginal groups are prone to use violence and riots as a form of political action
  • young, unemployed, black people do not have clearly defined goals as a group to represent them and give them a political voice
  • therefore, crime is a response to the frustrations social groups feel to not having their voices heard or represented for their lack of acceptance within mainstream society
• How do subcultures cause crime?


  • if a group of individuals share a feeling of relative deprivation or marginalisation, they will develop lifestyle subcultures to allow them to cope with this problem
  • Lea + Young - believe that forming a subculture is one possible response to relative deprivation
  • Believe that amongst ethnic minority and low income culture, there is an immersion in the american dream culture - designer culture
  • opportunities to achieve these goals are blocked, so resort to forming subcultures that partake in street crime instead
• Evaluation of left realist causes of crime -

  1. Murray argues that poverty is not a cause of crime and should not excuse criminal activity, but should place a focus on eradicating poverty
  2. Marxists criticise for failing to consider white collar crime and corporate crime and how it is harmful to victims
• What are white collar crimes?


  • crimes that are financially motivated